Evade, Escape, Survive
by JexFraequin
Summary: I'm tired. I'm scared. Terrified. Someone please help me. I just want to live. ...Chapter II is finally up!
1. Prolouge

"Where am I?"

The events of the last three hours were a complete blur. Everything in my head was muddled around as if it had gone through some kind of mental blender. My eyes were open, but I couldn't see anything.

"Hello?"

My own voice sounded distant, as if it were coming from someone else. Was it? I didn't know. I tried to sit up. I put my hands behind me and put my weight on them, but my arms gave out, and I plummeted back to the hard, wet ground.

"Where am I?"

o_yuyho aaar n inn ooocaaann. _

"What?"

_youy are in thee ocean_

I felt myself slipping back into unconsciousness, my brain turning into mush. I smelt gas. Through my own eyelids, I could make out the dancing radiance of bright orange and yellow. Through the gurgling of blood in ears, I could hear crackling.

s_umone bilt me a fiwre_

I opened my eyes again. This time, my vision was only mildly blurred. I felt a stirring in my legs as my heart pushed blood into them. They were numb, but I could still feel them. I-...

_someone buiilt me a firre? _

My heart began beating faster. It was trying to tell me something. The rhythmic _budump budump_ seemed to begin saying _get out get out! _My vision began to correct itself. Lying on my back, I arched my neck slightly to the upside-down sight of a roaring fire overcoming a blackened metal frame of my car.

_ …...myy car. _

_ my car._

_ My car!_

My thoughts swirled into my psyche like water rushing into an empty tank.

You_ saw the sign for the Raccoon City Bridge. You were going ninety. You lost control. You hit an embankment. Your car barrel-rolled, skidded on its top, and slammed into a tree. You barely managed to climb out your broken windshield. You blacked out. _

My eyes snapped into focus. I gazed up into the night sky, and my legs lifted my body up. It was amazing what the human body could accomplish in times of stress. I ran away from my car just as the fire met with the leaking pool of gasoline coming from my gas-tank. My car erupted into a bright, hot, fireball. I turned just in time to see my back tire fall back to the ground. Even though my sudden rush of adrenaline got me to my feet, my head was still throbbing. I put my hands on my knees and exhaled deeply, blood dripped from the tip of nose. I had to get out of there. A giant explosion was bound to attract attention. Down the street, I saw a desolate Taco Corral. I just needed some time to collect myself, rest, and I could continue on my way out of this God forsaken city. I walked to the fast food restaurant , the whole time listening to the sounds of the city. There were none.

Eventually, I came to the front door. I tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge. I worked my way to the back door, hoping against hope it wasn't locked. It wasn't. I opened the door and peered inside. Blackness. I might as well of been looking into a cave. I opened the door as far as I could to let the maximum amount of moonlight in as possible. I grabbed a nearby cinder block and used it to hold the door open. Walking inside, I immediately realized I was in the kitchen. I felt around until I got the refrigerator and reached inside.

_Jackpot_. Bottles upon bottles of water. I took one, uncapped it, and drank it down in 10 seconds. I grabbed a few more and felt my stomach rumble with hunger. I looked around and found a shelf with bags of flavored tortilla chips stacked on top of it. I ripped a bag open and shoved a handful of chips into my mouth. After a brief gorging, I walked back to towards the open door and stopped in front of a small sink. I took a quick glance in the mirror and could barely recognize the man looking back at me. I had a giant gash across my forehead, my face was covered in dirt, grime, and sweat, and my shirt was torn open. I peeled off my shirt and tossed it to the ground to reveal a giant bruise on my chest. I opened one of the waters and poured it down my face, soaking in the sting, allowing the wonderful liquid to revitalize my senses. I rubbed everything with water. Ten minutes later, I looked at least half the man I looked before my car careened off the road. A sudden wave of tiredness hit me like a brick. I checked my pockets and was relieved to find I still had everything. A lighter, a pack of smokes, my cell phone, and my wallet. I fondled the wall until I got into the dining area. It was relatively well lit due to the moon shining directly into the windows. I ducked down into a row of padded booth seats, set my phone's alarm clock to go off two and a half hours from now, and fell asleep.


	2. I

My eyelids sprang open as if they were shot out of a cannon. I looked at my phone. It was 11:29 at night. I had set it to go off at 11:30. I grabbed my phone and shut the alarm off. I had a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. My gut was trying to tell me something. That was when I heard something metallic crash to the ground somewhere in the kitchen. I lied motionless on the seat, my ears straining to pick up any more sound. I stared intently on the door to the kitchen, forcing them to come into focus. But they would not obey. Suddenly, a cloud drifted in front of the moon, sending the entire city into stark blackness. My heart began to pound wildly in my chest. I felt that whoever, or whatever was in the kitchen would somehow be able to hear my blood coursing through my veins.

_Just take it easy. It won't be able to see you._ My eyes darted around the room, trying to pick up any figures. I heard the kitchen door creak open, and a soft moan. _It's in here with me!_ It was only a matter of time before the curiosity of whatever had just crept into the dining area would eventually lead to my booth. I had to get out of there! I had absolutely no idea how well they picked up sound, if they had a heightened sense of smell, or if they had just normal abilities. All I knew was that they were relatively slow. _If only I could see! _I thought. _I could make a break for the kitchen and get out! _But, I couldn't risk getting up, running, and slamming into a wall. It would know with absolute certainty where I was and attack me for sure.

Another moan, this time only about ten feet away. I was running out of time! _Goddammit__! _I had no choice. I had to do something. I grabbed my phone, bounded out of my booth and sprinted to the general area I had remembered walking into the dining room from. My arms outstretched, I crashed into a wall. I had certainly peaked the interest of my visitor, as I heard an angry moan behind me. My heart about ripping out of my chest, I ran down the wall with my hand against it, feeling for an opening._ There! _I ran into the kitchen just as something cold brushed against my hip. Adrenaline pumping now, I made a mad dash towards the exit. The layout of the kitchen was much more simple than the dining area. As soon as I breached the threshold of the backdoor, all five toes of my right foot banged violently against the cinder block I had placed on the ground to hold the door open.

"Fuck!" I screamed in agony, my momentum sending me tumbling to the ground. I knew for a fact I had broken at least a couple toes. My foot in an unspeakable amount of pain, I managed to stand back up and excruciatingly limped down an alley. After a few minutes of gimping my way down the alley, I came to the end, a T intersection. I ducked behind a dumpster and slowly took my shoe off. Lips pursed together now, quietly whimpering to myself, I attempted to remove my sock. The blood that had pooled around my toes had bonded my foot to the inner fabric.

"Goddammit, Paul, you dumb motherfucker," I whispered to myself. Delicately putting my shoe back on, I stuck my head around the corner of the alley. I saw nothing but street, sidewalk, and buildings. I had to find somewhere where I could bandage my foot. What I really needed was another car, but how was I going to get one? I had no idea how to start one without a key. Perhaps maybe I could get lucky and find a key in someones glove box? I had no idea. I just had to take things slowly, one step at a time. I had a choice, go either right or left. I flipped a mental coin and decided to go left.

Walking gingerly down the sidewalk, I kept my eyes peeled for an easier mode of transportation, crazed monsters, and maybe a hospital. My entire foot was throbbing, but the pain was in the toes, particularly the big one. I was in such a rush, I had to slow myself down a few times as my foot angrily protested my fast pace. There was a moment where I had to stop and duck into an alley. I watched as a group of creatures walked lazily by. I had to be weary of all of my surroundings. After they were gone, I continued walking. After about twenty minutes, I stopped at a street sign pointing to a police station. I let out a silent breath of relief. There, I could bandage my screwed up foot, maybe get a bite to eat, and get some sort of weapon. If the place hadn't already been ransacked, that is. I got to the building and tried the front door, but it wouldn't budge. I walked around and tried the back door. It too, was locked. I had to find a way in. I looked over and noticed there was a fire escape on the far edge of the building. The latter hung a good four feet over my head, however. If I hadn't pulled my little stunt earlier, I could simply jump up and grab the bottom rung. I looked for something to stand on, and spotted a shopping cart nearby. I drug it under the latter and climbed to the roof. I stood up and surveyed the top of the two story building. All there was was a handful of vents that were too small for me to squeeze through and four skylights. I checked all of them, thankfully one was unlocked. I pushed the window open, but the glass popped out of the frame and crashed to the ground inside the building.

"Shit," I whispered. The last thing I wanted to do was attract attention. I got on my knees, grabbed the edge of the opening, and lowered myself down. I hung from the ceiling of what looked to be an office, braced my foot for the impact, and let go. When I landed, a jolt of pain struck my foot, making me wince. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and turned on the flashlight app I had installed. My phone had a very impressive little flash on it. The first thing I looked for was an arms case. I walked to the desk and pulled open the drawer. Inside sat a Beretta M9 with two magazines beside it. I pocketed the magazines, grabbed the pistol, made sure it was loaded, and left the room. I opened the door to a long hallway with a staircase at the end of it. First thing I wanted to do was find a place to wrap my foot. Gun and phone in front of me, I walked to the end of the hallway and down the stairs to the main floor. Navigating the police precinct was a little tricky with only a phone to guide you. Twice I walked in a giant circle. Finally, I came to another staircase heading downstairs. I walked down and came to another long hallway. I looked at each door and read the labels. Eventually, I came to the medical room. I grabbed the knob when I heard a creak back towards the stairs. I whipped around at the noise, gun at the ready. Nothing. Maybe it was just me. Maybe it wasn't. I couldn't afford to take any chances. I started going back from where I came to investigate. Once at the foot of the stairs, I stopped. I thought I had heard another creak. I put my phone to my chest to extinguish my light. I had an odd sensation I wasn't alone. I stood there, frozen. At that moment, I moved to the wall next to the stairs and listened. Another creak. This time it seemed like it came from the top of the staircase. Palms sweaty, I took my phone back out, spun around the wall, gun pointed to the top of the stairs ready to fire, my finger pulling the trigger back.

"Don't shoot!" said the English accent.

"Who's there?" I exclaimed, gun still raised.

"I'm normal!" The man said, hands outstretched, "Don't shoot!" he repeated. I lowered my gun, but kept my phone trained on him.

"Jesus, you almost gave me a heart attack," I said.

"I'm the one having a bloody gun pointed at me," said the man, forcing a nervous laugh as he began coming down the stairs. I blew a giant sigh. Through everything I had been through the past day, all the chaos I had seen, all the madness, seeing a fellow man made me feel a million times better about my situation. For the first time in 48 hours, I let myself smile.

The man and I, who told me his name was Fredrick, broke into the medical room, where he helped me wrap up my foot. From there, we found the armory, where we stocked up on guns and ammunition. I grabbed another pistol, a shotgun, and and M4 carbine. After that, we made our way to the break room, where there were cans of soup and bags of chips and trail mix in the cabinets. We sat on the ground, ate, and talked.

"So Fredrick," I said in between gulps of Campbell's New England Clam Chowder, "What's your story? How'd you end up here? Where are you trying to go?"

"I came to Raccoon City... four days ago? Yeah that's right, it's been four days," Fredrick explained, scooping handfuls of Doritos into his mouth, "My company sent me here for an international conference. We've been trying to grow, reach out to other nations, you know that sort of thing. My family's back in London. I was able to talk with them right after everything happened. After that, all communication went down. Me and some of the other members got together and tried to get out of the city. We were attacked by a group of those... well I don't know what you called them... monsters yesterday. I was the only one that made it. Ever sense then, I've been just trying to survive. Trying to escape." Fredrick finished his bag, crumpled it up, tossed it aside, and reached for another one. "What about you, mate?"

"Well," I began, discarding my empty soup can and ripping open a bag of trail mix, "I've been doing the same thing as you. Just trying to survive." My thoughts began spiraling out of control. This whole time, I've focused solely on surviving. I hadn't recounted the unimaginable horror I had witnessed only a couple days ago. I prayed Fredrick wouldn't press me for anything else.

"What about family? Trying to find anyone, get to anywhere at all?" My bottom lip began trembling. I looked up and out the window to the black sky.

"Well," I stammered, my voice beginning to crack, "my wife's dead." Silence. Why did I say that? I was barely thinking it. Tears welled up in my eyes.

"Christ. Paul. Mate. I'm... Christ. I'm so sorry," Fredrick said, having a hard time finding words. I didn't blame him. It was impossible to have the right reaction when someone you just met unloads news like that to you. For some reason, I felt compelled to tell him about that morning.

"We were married for about three months. We woke up together. Fucking... she was so beautiful. We woke up together. Lying there," I was able to say, "She got up to put on coffee. She opened the door. One of those things was there. It grabbed her. I got up, she was screaming. I got to it and tried to pull it off. It bit her. Fucking Christ!" Since that moment, I hadn't even relived it in my head. I had barely thought of my wife since then. I blocked it all away. It wasn't fair! Why hadn't I pulled it off? Why couldn't I? What the fuck was wrong with me? I was sobbing now, drool falling in strings down my chin. All these emotions were running into me like someone had just opened a window in my brain. I was angry, I was distraught, I was depressed. Hopeless. Just like that. She was ripped out of my life. Ripped out of my fucking life! I felt a hand on my shoulder. Fredrick was standing over me.

"She wants you to live, mate," he said quietly, "She wants you to live." My crying began to subside.

"Fuck me, goddammit," I said. I felt bad for putting Fredrick in such an awkward spot. He's known me for maybe an hour and I'm falling apart in front of him. He walked back to his spot on the floor and sat down. My tears had shut off completely now.

"That was the first time since it happened I had let myself go like that. I hadn't even thought about it. Just focused on staying alive, you know?" I said.

"No worries, Paul" said Fredrick , "I'm glad I ran into you." A sudden wave of tiredness had swept in. I had the feeling Fredrick had the same mindset, as he went to lie down. I did the same on the other side of the room. I closed my eyes, and slept.


	3. II

"Babe stop!" The way she said it was playful, yet somehow stern. I didn't care. I loved making her laugh like this.

"I have no idea what your problem is," I said, with a stupid grin on my face, "I'm not doing anything!" I dove back into her, my hands working their way up the sides of her perfect torso.

"Paul! Knock it off! I'm seri – Hahahahahaha! Stop it!" as her hands were swinging away at the air, one of her nails found its way into the side of my face. I felt a sharp sting on my cheek as I jolted up and away.

"Ahh! Jesus," I said, walking into the bathroom and turning on the light. I looked into the mirror to see a bright red streak down the side of my cheek, blood seeping through and falling into the sink.

"Oh my God, Paul, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to..."

"Yeah, well, you did!" I snapped back, interrupting her. She got quiet. It was obvious that she didn't mean to, but it hurt like a bitch. I don't know why, but I felt an agitation that I just could not ignore. I splashed some water on my face while she stood there, completely silent and somber. I turned the faucet off and walked past her and crawled into bed. I listened as she walked into the bathroom, relieved herself, and lied down next to me.

"I'm really sorry," she said putting her hand on my chest. I turned my head over to her and couldn't help but smile. All the time I had known her, I had never been mad at her for more than half an hour. It was impossible to stay mad.

"Don't worry about it. I'll tell the guys I got in a bar fight. They'll think I'm a badass," I said, grabbing her hand.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

And we slept.

I woke up, but my eyes stayed closed. I didn't want to believe I was lying in the break room of some abandoned police precinct. I wanted to dream again. I just wanted to see her face again. The calm in the air was broken by rustling feet outside the window above my head. I got up and peered out to see dozens of those zoned out creatures wandering around in the daylight. I turned my attention back towards the break room and saw Fredrick lying on his side still asleep. I crawled over to him and gently nudged him out of his slumber.

"Fredrick. Fredrick," I said.

"Hmm? What?" He said, rubbing the crust from his eyes.

"There's a bunch of those things outside. We need to get out of here," I said frantically. Fredrick got to his feet and looked out the window.

"Let's get out of here," he said, and we grabbed our things and left the room.

Walking around the precinct with the sunlight beaming in from the windows, I was able to examine Fredrick more closely. He was about as tall as I was, had blonde hair that was relatively short, and cutting blue eyes. I followed him as he looked around for a way out

"How did you get in here?" I said, pulling my pistol from a holster I found and checking its magazine.

"I managed to pry open a back door. I was looking for some supplies, much like you were," he replied, shotgun in front of him. I had given him the shotgun and one of the pistols I had taken. We found our way to the back door Fredrick had entered through, which he had closed last night. I ran into an office and looked out the window and didn't see anything.

"Looks like the coast is clear this way," I said. "What's the plan? What's our next step?" Fredrick looked out a window in another office with an indiscernible look on his face. I couldn't tell whether he was happy, frustrated or scared.

"On my way over here, I ran into a homeless man. He was definitely off his rocker, going off about witches and wizards and how they're to blame for this whole mess," Fredrick said, still glancing out the window. "But then he said something kind of interesting. As I was walking away, I think he said something about how there's going to be something like a safe zone. He said 'them people in the camouflage. They're going to save us.' I can only assume he meant military."

My ears perked up after he mentioned the military. This whole time, I hadn't really thought of the involvement of the U.S. military. It was preposterous of me to think they wouldn't do anything and that the remaining people of Raccoon City were on their own. I suddenly felt something that had been eluding me for the past couple of days. Hope.

"Did he say where?" I said.

"Well I turned around and asked him what he was talking about. He said that my questions would be answered if I traveled north," he said.

"Well what the hell does that mean? Simply to go north? Out of the city or what?"

"I have no idea. I pressed him further but he started going crazy and told me to stay off his lawn." Then Fredrick let out a small laugh. "I was standing in a parking lot. I asked again what he was talking about and then he tried to bite me," he said.

"Maybe he was crazy, or maybe he heard something. But it's probably a good idea if we get out of the city," I said.

"That's what I was thinking. We're pretty close to the middle of the city. We might as well head north," Fredrick said, coming out of the office and grabbing his shotgun from over his shoulder. I clicked on the safety of my Beretta and tucked it back into my holster. I grabbed my rifle and slung the strap around my body.

"Wait here a second," Fredrick said, and he ran back into the break room. He heard him break open a few lockers, open some cabinets and grab a bunch of stuff. He emerged with two backpacks. One on his back and one in his hand. He threw it to me

"Bunch of bottled water, chips, soup, and whatnot. Plus, extra magazines and rounds and shells" he said.

"Good call."

Fredrick and I met at the door and pushed it open.

The sunshine felt amazing on my face. The city, however, smelt like death. There was foul and pungent odor radiating throughout. It wasn't pleasant, but something I forced myself to get used to. We walked away from the precinct and began heading north, careful to remain unnoticed by the monsters on the other side of the building.

We reached an intersection and I had almost forgotten the pounding in my foot. It begged for attention.

"Hold on a second, I gotta fix this," I said to Fredrick. We looked around to make sure nothing saw us or was following us and ducked into an alleyway. I tenderly took off my shoe as Fredrick slung his shotgun off his shoulder and stood at the mouth of the alleyway.

"I'm such a fucking moron," I said, reminiscing about my misstep with the cinder block. Fredrick had helped me fashion a sort of cast around my toes. I slipped it off and looked at the end of my foot. It actually wasn't as bad as I had thought it would be. We had cleaned it up pretty well, and the blood had dried up and formed a pretty big scab. I moved my toes, and to my surprise they didn't hurt as bad as I figured. I must not have broken anything, thank God.

"Paul," Fredrick said, running back to me. "We gotta get out of here. A huge crowd of those things are coming." I grabbed my shoe and put it back on. I still wasn't able to run full speed, and the end of my foot was still a little sore, but it felt much better than it had last night. I grabbed my M4 and ran with Fredrick away down the alley away from the street. We rounded a corner and I pressed my back to it. I peeked around to see a mob of walking corpses limp by the alley and down the street. Next to me, Fredrick was checking his shotgun when a mouse scurried between his legs, causing him to jump. He knocked over a trash can as the mouse flew down the alley. I looked again and saw one of the monsters stop to watch the mouse as it scampered into the street. The thing began walking down the alley, bringing a few of its friends with it.

"Go," I whispered to Fredrick. He got the hint, turned, and ran as quietly as he could down the alley. We rounded another corner and groaned in unison as we came to a dead end. There was a door on either side of the alley. We tried both of them but both were locked.

"Shit," Fredrick said. We heard a mild moan and whirled around to see the shadows of the monsters on the far wall, coming towards us.

"How many were there?" he said to me, his shotgun pointed at the corner. I hesitated for a split second, not taking the time to count them, but I knew there wasn't more than five.

"Uhhh I dunno. I few. Like four or five," I replied. Fredrick then made up his mind.

"Get ready to run, they'll hear this," he said. Fredrick turned, raised his shotgun, and fired a shell into each of the hinges of one of the doors. He then fired another shell into the knob and kicked the door off its hinges. I turned around to see four creatures running limply towards me. I raised my rifle and fired off four controlled bursts, aiming for their heads and causing them to explode in a gory display of blood and rotten brain matter.

I turned around and ran into the open door, following Fredrick. We made our way through the back of some sort of department store, with mannequins and bins strewn about. Every few seconds I made sure to glance behind me to make sure there wasn't anything there. Fredrick was in front of me, his shotgun raised. We were in full survival mode. My senses were tingling, my palms were sweaty. I wasn't thinking. I was just doing. I could feel the adrenaline pump through my body. We came out of the back room into the front of the store. I could hear things being knocked over in the room we just emerged from.

"They're inside," I said to Fredrick. We ran over to the front door of the store. I could see the dead bolt locking the front door closed through the bars of the closed security gate. There didn't seem to be a way to open it. Even worse, there were dozens of those monsters walking aimlessly on the street in front of the store.

We were trapped.

"Fuck!" Fredrick yelled, slamming his fist into the security gate. Even if we did managed to find a way to open it, we still had to deal with the creatures outside, and there was no telling how many had followed us into the store. I felt myself panicking. I started breathing really hard, and I could feel my heart beating in fury, aching to shoot out of my chest. The hope I felt earlier that day was completely gone. I felt myself staring at blackness. The darkness of my state of mind was overwhelming me. I couldn't think. I stood there, helpless, for what seemed like an eternity.

Fredrick was screaming.

"Paul! The back door! They're coming!"

He raised his shotgun and began firing. Angry moans filled the air. I raised my rifle, and began firing, but knew it was no use.

I was going to die here.

For a second I stopped firing. If I was going to die, it was going to be on my terms. I dropped my rifle, feeling the weight of the weapon on the strap around my shoulder. I pulled the pistol from it's holster, clicked off the safety. I raised the gun to my temple.

No.

What was this?

No.

It was almost audible, but its voice unmistakable.

Abby. My beautiful wife. I could hear her voice. It was faint inside my own head, but I swear to God I could hear it. She repeated the same too words over and over again.

No. Live.

In the distorted haze of the moans, Fredrick's screams, and shotgun blasts, a sudden wave of clarity hit me like a ton of bricks. I had to live. A sense of will and remarkable ferocity overcame my body. I put the pistol back in its holster and raised my rifle. For absolutely no discernable reason, I yelled. I deep, dark primal yell from the depths of soul echoed throughout the department store.

Shot after shot rang from my rifle. I counted seven in the store. Fredrick was strafing to my right, blasting holes into monsters. I began strafing to my left, burst after burst emanating from my weapon. Wave after wave, the things were kept emerging from the back room. The rifle clicked. I ejected the magazine and slid a new one in and kept shooting.

My eyes concentrating on what was in front of me, I let my guard down regarding what was around me. I heard footsteps, and looked to left just in time to see a mutilated walking corpse force itself upon me. I lost my balance and fell backward, the M4 flailing out of my hands and falling to the ground.

I had to make sure the thing wouldn't bite me. That was the top priority. I also needed to keep my wits about me. I could not afford the luxury of panic. I grabbed a hold of the crazed creature by the collar of its shirt as it was snapping its snarling jaw at my face and pushed it off of me. I kept it at bay with my right arm as I reached for my pistol with my left. In one swift move, I put the barrel of the gun to its temple and fired. I felt its body go limp as I pushed it off of me.

I grabbed the carbine and got to my feet. Fredrick had just got done shooting. It stunk in the room. It smelled awful.

"You alright mate? You bit?" Fredrick said, jogging towards me. For a second I wondered if I had been bit. I realized I wasn't.

"No. You? You good?" I said.

"Yeah, fucking things," Fredrick said. "Fuck you! Sick bastards!" He spit at one of the things on the ground and kicked it.

"We gotta go," I said. I pointed at his shotgun. "Make sure you've got that thing loaded."

"We gonna go back out the way we came? We have to go through that whole alley after we get out. I don't know if that's a good idea," Fredrick said. He was right. We couldn't risk getting bottled up again, even after we took down that many monsters. There were still dozens of lifeless horrors outside pounding on the windows. I didn't want to be around there much longer.

"Look for another way out," I said. We began scouring the department store. I looked up, down, all around and couldn't find another door. Finally, Fredrick shouted.

"A ladder!" he said. "It's the only way." As he said that, one of the windows shattered. The relentless pounding had finally taken its toll, and the things began to pour in. I jumped over a register and sprinted over to the ladder and began to climb. The ladder disappeared into a recess halfway up, and Fredrick was already inside of it. He eventually came to a a locked hatch. I looked down to see half a dozen creatures at the bottom of the ladder. I looked back up to see Fredrick press himself into the ladder, using the inside of the recess as leverage, and fire a shell into the lever of the hatch, pushing it open. We emerged at the roof of the two story building and closed the hatch. Fredrick and I found a bunch of cinder blocks in one of the corners and placed them on top of the hatch, effectively keep it shut.

"Mind your foot," Fredrick said, grinning and pointing at the last block.

"Shut up," I laughed.

"You alright, Paul?" he said, looking suddenly serious. "Thought I lost you back there."

"I'm fine man. We gotta figure out a way off of this building." We walked around and found a fire escape. At the bottom of it was about 20 of those things walking around. Having no other choice but to wait for them to disperse, we sat down, tore open our bags, counted ammo, ate and drank.

My hope returned.


End file.
